As we celebrate World Pneumonia Day on Monday, a new study from the United States reveals that patients with bacterial pneumonia are more prone to serious heart complications than those with viral pneumonia. Explanations.
As every year since 2009, this Monday, November 12 is World Pneumonia Awareness Day. An acute infectious disease affecting the pulmonary alveoli located in the lungs, pneumonia remains, even today, one of the most deadly respiratory diseases in the world.
Several kinds of germs can be responsible: bacteria, viruses or more rarely parasites and fungi. Most often, pneumonia is caused by a bacterium, the pneumococcus.
More risk of heart attack or stroke
According to a new study conducted by the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, it is these pneumonias caused by bacteria that are most dangerous to the heart health of patients, not pneumonias caused by viruses. These results were presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association in Chicago.
After following 4,792 patients hospitalized for pneumonia for 7 years, researchers found that patients diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia were 60% more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or death, per compared to patients diagnosed with viral pneumonia.
“We have always known that pneumonia was a risk factor for a major adverse cardiac event, such as a heart attack, within 90 days of diagnosis,” says Dr. J. Brent Muhlestein, MD, cardiology researcher at the Intermountain Heart Institute. “What we didn’t know was which type of pneumonia was the most dangerous. The results of this study provide a clear answer, which will allow doctors to better monitor patients and focus on reducing their risk of an event. major adverse cardiac event,” he continues.
The results show that bacterial pneumonia is the most common: it was diagnosed in 79% of patients. Among them, 34% (or 1,270 patients) had a major cardiovascular event within 90 days of diagnosis. At the same time, viral pneumonia was diagnosed in 21% of patients and a major adverse event was reported in 26% (258 patients) within 90 days.
Inflammation of the arteries caused by bacteria
How to explain this additional cardiovascular risk for people affected by bacterial pneumonia? According to Dr. Muhlestein, this is “because bacterial pneumonia causes greater inflammation of the arteries compared to viral pneumonia”. “When the arteries become inflamed, it destabilizes the layers of plaque that have built up over the years. The unstable plaque can then pull away from the wall of the artery and cause a blockage that can lead to heart attack, stroke brain or death”, write the researchers in a statement.
These new results should encourage the healthcare team to become aware of the greater cardiovascular risks associated with bacterial pneumonia. “If a patient has been diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia, treat them aggressively and monitor them closely for any signs of heart attack or stroke. If the patient is taking heart disease-specific medications, like high blood pressure or cholesterol, they need to continue taking those prescribed medications,” recommends Dr. Muhlestein.
He also advises getting a flu shot, getting a pneumovax, washing your hands properly all year round (especially during cold and flu season), and quitting smoking immediately to avoid respiratory diseases such as pneumonia.
A disease of the “poor” always fatal
This new study comes at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) has just unveiled alarming figures for deaths linked to pneumonia, which kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Children under 5 are more vulnerable: 920,000 died of pneumonia in 2015 alone. That is 2,500 deaths every day worldwide.
Contrary to popular belief, it is neither the elderly nor people living in “cold” countries who succumb the most to pneumonia. Each year, it is in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia that the majority of children perish. 180,000 children died of it in India in 2015, 130,000 in Nigeria, 64,000 in Pakistan, 46,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The cause: malnutrition, which makes them particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases such as pneumonia.
“The international community must now become aware of this”, challenges Samy Ahmar, Health Director of the NGO Save the Children in Release. “The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 cannot be achieved if the fight against child mortality due to pneumonia continues at this pace. On a constant trajectory, 800,000 children will die from the disease in 2030”, warns- he. He thus calls for the “strengthening of health systems for the benefit of all, and especially the poorest”. “No child should die of pneumonia. Neither here nor elsewhere,” he concludes.
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